Name: The Sacrifice
ISBN: 9780141336121

Charles Higson

Follows the dual storylines of Small Sam on his search for Ella and of Shadowman's discoveries about Saint George and the Disease itself.

The Sacrifice

Charlie Higson

Sacrifice

Jamieson

I'm only doing a mini review of this book because I've reviewed all the other books in the series and don't really have anything much extra to add so I'll just sum it up?

book/series summary This book is basically about a apocalyptic version of London where a disease has turned all the adults into zombies. It's basically Gone meets The Walking Dead. Each book follows certain groups of kids and their quest/mission which depends on which characters you're following. This book follows The Kid and Small Sam after the events of The Dead and catches up with the Cathedral kids who haven't been in the series since book one. Also Shadowman and Saint George feature heavily. 


  WHAT I LIKE


💀 zombies. I love the zombies in this series because they actually have character arcs and change as the series progresses. I like the way the zombies function and how the lore surrounding them is pretty consistent

💀 world so I love the way the world is split up into different crews of kids. The Tower of London crew is my favourite but I also really love the Natural History Museum kids. Basically, every prominent building has a group of kids who have taken up residence there, and what is interesting is that each group has it's own rules, culture, laws and ideas about what to do in the world. Some are looking for a cure, some are just living day to day lives, some are looking for power, some live in lowkey anarchy and the difference between each group is really interesting. Also, PSA the kids living in IKEA had the smartest idea of everyone js. 

💀 narrative structure its kind of hard to explain, but the narrative structure is my favourite thing about this book and series and why it stands out as a genuinely way better series then most zombie books. So basically, Book one follows a group called the Waitrose crew who are brought to Buckingam Palace by a kid called Jester. Book two then skips back in time to explain how the Buckingham Palace crew ended up there. Book three is set at the same time as book one, but follows a completely different set of characters. This book is set right after the events of book two. 

Why I love this structure is that the world feels really alive. When you're following a group of characters, you know one of the other groups is also up to something we will get to later. It feels less like a series moving forward and more like a series moving forward and outward. It's kind of hard to explain but I love it. I also love how this structure allows plotlines to weave together and overlap, and so we see different events from different perspectives and contexts. I love the narrative strucutre and it's why this series stands out to me so much even in it's low points. 


  WHAT I DON'T LIKE



💀 repetition this book was kind of boring to me (because i've already read it so it's not really the book fault), but also by this book it felt like a lot of the plot had been used and reused. There's only so many times being chased by a zombie can freak me out. This one felt a little out of ideas

💀 crew I love The Kid but I don't love the other characters this book follows. Small Sam and Ed are okay but my real favourites from the Tower of London like Jordan Hordern and Dognut weren't in it as much. I LOVED SHADOWMAN'S ROLE IN T HIS BOOK THOUGH

💀 boring? This particular book in the series is more of a filler/explanation book then the previous ones so it wasn't as thrilling as it's predecessors


  “We was half stupid, a third lucky, and three-quarters ferocious.”


Anyway, overall I really enjoy this series and I will hopefully be finishing it this year. Even though it's a seven book series it's plotted and crafted so well that never felt daunting. I genuinely love some of the characters in this series and god the plot structure is just so freakin clever and good